How Liverpool almost committed gargantuan Mo Salah crime as blockbuster deal is 'agreed'

Liverpool are reportedly on the cusp of announcing a huge new contract to keep Mo Salah at Anfield, with more details on the arrangement coming to light after staggering new information was revealed how the Reds almost blundered by overlooking his signing in the first place.

Salah joined the Reds in a £36.9m move from Roma in the summer of 2017, a move which, at the time, did raise some eyebrows on Merseyside after the player’s largely unfruitful spell at Chelsea earlier in his career. But almost eight years on from his arrival and a phenomenal 243 goals later, the Egyptian has proved not just a brilliant signing but one of the most influential stars in the entire history.

Now with his contract due to expire at the season’s end, Salah is eligible to walk away from Liverpool as a free agent on July 1 – now a concerning 88 days away.

Strong reports this week, though, claim Salah and Liverpool are on the cusp of an agreement that will prolong his stay at Anfield, with a new two-year deal, that gives the Egyptian exactly what he wants, set to be announced imminently.

However, new information has also come to light at how Liverpool almost let their Egyptian King slip through their grasp and how, but for a data analytics team led by former Liverpool director of research Ian Graham and fronted by now CEO of football Michael Edwards, Jurgen Klopp would have brought in Julian Brandt instead.

“Jurgen’s preferred option for that summer was Julian Brandt, who was a great player,” Graham told BBC iPlayer as part of a new series of Liverpool documentaries.

“Jurgen had obviously known him very well, coming from the Bundesliga, and knew the German market very well.

“We agreed that Brandt was a very good young player but not a standout in the same way that Mo was. From our data analysis point of view, Mo was the best young wide forward in Europe, full stop.

“Roma were under pressure to sell because their finances were not in a good place, so we knew he was available for a good price.

“He played a forward and wide role that we needed to fill at the time, whereas Brandt was more of an attacking midfielder.”

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Klopp had full trust in Liverpool data team – unlike Rodgers

Liverpool’s research team was, at the time, something of a ground-breaking scheme and one which has since been replicated by all the top clubs around the world.

And it wasn’t just Salah whom Liverpool used data to make a strong push for, with the arrivals around a similar time on Sadio Mane, Gini Wijnaldum, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk all playing a crucial role in their success under Klopp.

Graham, though, insists Klopp was all too happy to put his faith into the research team and, with Salah becoming a bona fide club legend and key to the seven major trophies he won at Anfield, certainly glad that he did.

Graham added: “It’s to Jurgen’s credit that he engaged in that debate in an honest way with his eyes open to say, ‘OK, I’m open to be convinced, show me that Mo is better’.”

Graham was also a consultant at Tottenham before switching to Anfield, but says Daniel Levy and Spurs never really paid data analytics the same attention that Liverpool did at that time.

On his time in north London between 2007 and 2012, Dennis said “they never really had the ambition to make more” of data, whereas he said “Liverpool were the first team to have an in-house analytics department”.

Explaining how Klopp was eager to put their data team to good use and put his trust in the system, unlike the German’s predecessor, Brendan Rodgers, Graham continued: “Previously, we had robust debates with Brendan about which players to sign and the two differences were our ideas about which players would improve Liverpool were very different to Brendan’s ideas.

“Brendan, understandably, put a big premium on Premier League experience whereas we felt those players were quite often overvalued by the market and players from other markets, like Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino, were undervalued.”

On Rodgers, Graham added that Ulsterman, now in his second stint as Celtic boss, “came in with a preconception that the player he wanted to sign was the only solution for that position” and that “it was very difficult to persuade him otherwise”.

However, in Klopp, whom Graham described as the “missing piece” and, in some cases, “a manager who seemed to see what the data saw”.

He added: “He [Jurgen] is very happy to thank us for our suggestions to have stopped some of the less sensible signings, which at the time caused big arguments but, in retrospect, he could see this was a good process for signing players.”

That vision ultimately led the way with Liverpool winning the 2019 Champions League trophy – the first of seven major honours under Klopp – and with nine of the starting XI all signed by their data team.

“The club needed it and, from our point of view, the data approach needed it as well,” said Graham on that piece of silverware.

“Looking back, it is a source of pride and is some validation that data can be of help. It adds to recruitment.

“Our data analysis means nothing without the scouts to understand the traditional way of viewing a player, without Jurgen to get the best out of the players, without the ownership to trust in the process and without the sporting director to make decisions based on what the data is telling him.

“Jurgen’s impact on the Champions League win, it can’t really be overstated. His presence at the club attracted some really great players, he got the best out of those players and – by the time of that final – we had a world-class first XI that was quite different to the team that he inherited.”

As for Salah, strong reports in France claim he will agree a new two-year deal at Anfield, running through to the summer of 2027 and taking him up to his 35th birthday.

It’s also suggested his status as the club’s top-earner will continue, with Salah expected to pocket £400,000 a week – or some £41.6m to the player – before tax.

Liverpool latest: £95m double deal ON; FSG blamed over contract impasse

Meanwhile, the Reds are advancing towards a brilliant double deal for two stars that will gut a Premier League rival and will reportedly set Arne Slot’s side back a hefty £95m.

However, there’s not such good news with regards interest in a pair of Brighton stars after the south-coast club reportedly quoted the Reds an eye-watering £200m bill for both players.

The Reds also look destined to miss out on Alexander Isak, with a trusted source revealing three massive reasons why a daring raid for the free-scoring Swede looks destined to fail.

Slot, though, is reportedly on course to sign a phenomenal central defender this summer, who oozes so much quality it’s claimed he ‘strolls around the pitch like an uncle’.

That said, Liverpool’s need to spend big this summer may not be quite so severe had FSG moved to nail down a quintet of stars who it is feared will quit Anfield and cost the club around £450m. As a result, some unwelcome fingers of blame are being pointed towards the club’s owners.

QUIZ: How much can you recall on Mo Salah’s Liverpool career?

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